Public service announcement-Another big time thief

A reader from lit was kind enough to send me a link to one of my stories being sold on amazon. The author has 150 or so e-books all posted within the last few months, and the reader said he recognized 39 stories from lit authors so check and see if yours are there and report it as well as try and contact all the authors.

Nice to know there are readers who have our backs, so I'm paying it forward.

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-...&text=Claire+Hanson&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1

Thanks LC. She/he/they swiped my Valentine's day story that was posted a few days ago.

TxRad said:

She/he/they swiped my Valentine's day story that was posted a few days ago.

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She/he/they is too nice. I think the words you were looking for is "That asshole"

Is it worth preemptively posting your own stories to Amazon, to keep scum like this from making a penny off your work?

mfan2112 said:

She/he/they is too nice. I think the words you were looking for is "That asshole"

Is it worth preemptively posting your own stories to Amazon, to keep scum like this from making a penny off your work?

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Does it stop them from copying your work and selling it on Amazon again?

Don't remember the name, but I recently saw an author who'd put one of her old books up on Amazon after it went out of print complaining that it was pirated, and somebody (probably the pirates) then registered complaints against her own copy to get it pulled from the store.

Thank you, lovecraft68. I was contacted by another author who saw one of my series on Amazon. So sad people have to stoop to this level. I’ve already reported the theft of Alex And Emma to Amazon. Was hoping someone had started a thread on here about it.

Looking through the list I was surprised to find one of mine there. Quite flattering although I do think, in my biased way, it’s a good story. They only changed the title slightly which is why I noticed it. I suppose with some stories the title will have been changed completely, or maybe not looking through the list, so they may have stolen more than one. That would be even more flattering. Why anyone would want to pay 99p to read it I find amazing.

I think xelliebabex should feel the most annoyed. So many of hers I didn’t bother to count.

I’ve never thought about publishing any of mine because of I can’t see there’s a lot of profit for the effort required and I wouldn’t buy them and I’ve written them. But then again I don’t know how big the market is for ebooks.

These incidents seem to target certain genres more than others (non-consent, BDSM. incest, etc.). These aren't exclusive, but just a sampling of what I have seen showing up on Amazon.

I'm curious as to why certain genres would appeal to these thieves versus something else. There are some great stories on Literotica in other genres, yet these seem to be left alone. For example, one would think that some of the great stories in "Novels and Novellas" would be attractive to try selling on Amazon, but I haven't heard about anyone having one of those stories stolen.

Maybe I shouldn't give anyone any ideas...

BobbyBrandt said:

These incidents seem to target certain genres more than others (non-consent, BDSM. incest, etc.). These aren't exclusive, but just a sampling of what I have seen showing up on Amazon.

I'm curious as to why certain genres would appeal to these thieves versus something else. There are some great stories on Literotica in other genres, yet these seem to be left alone. For example, one would think that some of the great stories in "Novels and Novellas" would be attractive to try selling on Amazon, but I haven't heard about anyone having one of those stories stolen.

Maybe I shouldn't give anyone any ideas...

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Niche and extreme content sells better than general erotica tropes from what I can see. Bestiality is a disturbingly hot seller anywhere that allows it.

You would at least think they would try to rub off the serial numbers by changing the title. Like any competent theif.

Thanks

lovecraft68 said:

A reader from lit was kind enough to send me a link to one of my stories being sold on amazon. The author has 150 or so e-books all posted within the last few months, and the reader said he recognized 39 stories from lit authors so check and see if yours are there and report it as well as try and contact all the authors.

Nice to know there are readers who have our backs, so I'm paying it forward.

https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-...&text=Claire+Hanson&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1

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Thanks, Lovecraft -- it doesn't look like any of mine I'm not a spank author and I converted most of my BDSM stuff to e-books on Amazon some time ago. I have been ripped off in the past, however. As we all page through Amazon we should all try to be alert for this sort of shenanigans. On the other hand, I've created enough of a splash on Amazon with my own line of Shrink Fiction collections that I have inspired a competitor who writes on the same topic and uses the SAME first name as my pseudonym! It is clearly meant to mislead MY readers. Nothing I can really do, though I have little to fear, this "gal" can't write her way out of a paper bag! Still irksome, however.

Bramblethorn said:

Does it stop them from copying your work and selling it on Amazon again?

Don't remember the name, but I recently saw an author who'd put one of her old books up on Amazon after it went out of print complaining that it was pirated, and somebody (probably the pirates) then registered complaints against her own copy to get it pulled from the store.

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I experienced something similar with one of my titles, "Undercover". Posted on Lit, stolen and published on Amazon by who-knows. I filed a complaint and it was removed. Then a year later when I tried to publish a rewritten and edited version with the title "Undercover Lover", the old case was still open on Amazon, and they asked the thief to accept that I published my new one. Naturally, they got no response and my book was never accepted by Amazon.

Well, Amazon offered me another solution with a 10-days deadline: I could pay for a domain, create an official author website and an admin email for that site and send them an email stating the book was mine. I figured it would be more fuss than I wanted to bother with at the time, so I published it everywhere else except Amazon.

It has never happened with any of my other stolen titles, so I guess I might have been 'unlucky' with the person handling my case.


So, lesson learned. These days I publish to Amazon, Google and Smashwords before adding the story to Lit. That does the trick. And if there's money to be earned, at least it ends up in the right pocket

And another lesson I've learnt, is to never publish my longer stories on Lit. Only the shorter ones. Too bad for my readers, but after seeing 13 stories stolen, it feels rather stupid to post more.

Except that these days they steal entire ebooks directly from Smashwords.... You can never beat them.... Only start writing the next one

Emirus said:

I’ve never thought about publishing any of mine because of I can’t see there’s a lot of profit for the effort required and I wouldn’t buy them and I’ve written them. But then again I don’t know how big the market is for ebooks.

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They wouldn't have stolen it unless they thought it was worth stealing, so you should definitely publish it yourself.

I finally took the jump a year ago, and yes, there is a market for ebooks Particularly now when many people stay at home.

Chances are that the thief is also using those pictures as cover art without permission.

ChuckWolf said:

Chances are that the thief is also using those pictures as cover art without permission.

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Considering how likely that is, it could be another avenue of attack. If a reverse image search turns it up on a commercial image site, you could report the book cover to the copyright holder and let them add to the pile on, if it is indeed being used without permission.

Part of me is wishing my writing was good enough to be stolen, but seriously it must be very frustrating and difficult to avoid if you're writing fine stories.

Update

After going back and forth with Amazon four or five times over the past week, I received notice today that Claire’s stolen version of my series “Alex and Emma” (copy/pasted down to the title and description from Lit) is being removed from Amazon. Victory through perseverance! Praying that the other authors are as successful. Thanks to xelliebabex for telling me about the theft.